Cattle station
A large cattle property in Australia, often thousands of square kilometres in size.
Also: station, pastoral lease, outback station
In Australia a station is a large pastoral property, the equivalent of a ranch, and a cattle station runs beef cattle across open country. Many in the north and the outback are held as pastoral leases and are enormous: Anna Creek in South Australia covers more than 23,000 square kilometres. Cattle graze freely over lightly fenced country with few people, and are gathered in musters. Stations in the tropical north run mostly Brahman and other zebu-cross cattle suited to heat and ticks. Children on remote stations once learned through the School of the Air by radio, and medical care came by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.